This Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 our Those Were The Days show will spotlight radio songs that had a huge impact on the men and women that served our nation in Vietnam. Our study guide will be the great book 'We Gotta Get Out Of This Place' by Doug Bradley and Craig Werner. Hear a Top Twenty countdown of Vietnam era songs according to a survey done by the authors. They polled veterans about their songs while in the service during that time. Saturday night we will play some of the most frequently mentioned songs. Our special in studio guest will be local artist Jim Walktendonk. He served as an army dog handler in 1970-71 with the 212th Military Police Unit at Long Binh and the 595th MPS at Cam Ranh Bay. He and his guitar in Vietnam helped ease the pain of many soldiers. He continues to write and perform today and paints amazing art. Jim will recall songs he remembers hearing during his tour. It will be a special tribute during this Memorial Day weekend. We will play more of your favorites during the second half of Those Were The Days and a few two hit wonders! I will not be taking your requests this week. That feature will return next Saturday night. Please be safe this weekend.

The old farm truck was not my ride of choice, however, it was better than walking or riding my bike. It would often have a half load of something in its bed that I would have to unload before I left the farm lane. It did have a good radio. I remember hearing many songs during the Spring and Summer of 1980 while I was hauling seed corn to the fields or pulling loads of hay. At night that truck was my link to the night life of rural Richland Center. My girl friend would have to move a log chain, clevis, a small paper sack full of washers, and a gear off the corn planter, if she wanted to slide close to me on the bench seat. There was a romantic glow coming from the fly specked dash board as the hot tunes of 1980 provided the soundtrack for a hot date! This week on Those Were The Days we will travel down the gravel road with hits including: Call Me-Blondie, Funkytown-Lipps Inc., Cars-Gary Numan, Brass In Pocket-Pretenders, We Live For Love-Pat Benatar, You May Be Right-Billy Joel, and Lost In Love-Air Supply. Listen to Those Were The Days on WRCO FM 100.9 and you could be the lucky winner of a great prize when we play trivia. Request a song from the fifties through the eighties between 6 and midnight Saturday night.

This Saturday night (May 13th) we will feature some of our favorite car songs on WRCO FM 100.9. There are so many songs that pay tribute to awesome four wheel vehicles including: 409/Little Duece Coupe/ Shut Down/Fun Fun Fun-Beach Boys, Hot Rod Lincoln-Comander Cody, Mustang Sally-Wilson Pickett, Cadillac Ranch-Bruce Springsteen, Little Red Corvette-Prince, Hey Little Cobra-Rip Chords, GTO-Ronnie & The Daytonas, and Beep Beep by the Playmates. That is just a sample of what is a log list of automobile songs. If you include any song about transportation, your playlist would fill more than six hours of the Saturday night program. The idea for a car songs show came from one of our most loyal listeners. Thank you Sarge! If anyone has an idea about a future theme, just drop us a line through this blog, email me or call me on Saturday night. I think we have some really good shows coming up during the Spring and Summer on Those Were The Days. Between six and Midnight Saturday night I will be in the studio taking your phone call requests and asking you fun trivia questions. The weather is supposed to be outstanding. Perhaps a few more of our camp fire listeners will report to us during Those Were The Days when we feature the best of the fifties through the eighties pop radio memories.

Hey Rock n' Rollers! This Saturday night on Those Were The Days we will pull out some old records from 1983. That Spring I was graduating from Trans American School Of Broadcasting (Madison Media Institute now) in Wausau. Of those that completed the program, there are only a few that have stuck it out in the media business. Many have gone on to much more success with higher paying better benefit jobs with fewer hours. They got serious with their lives and made good choices for their families. Those of us that truly love radio would not trade places with those that chose other paths. I still feel like I am living the dream. In 1983 my old buddy, Marty Richards, and me were spinning records at bars and high school dances for a few dollars. Just enough money to go buy a few more records at the Music Shop in Richland Center each week. This Saturday night on WRCO FM 100.9 you may hear a few of those records that have been converted to digital. The Spring of 1983 had many great songs that we still enjoy today. Artists that were having hits included: Prince, Bob Seger, Dexy's Midnight Runners, After The Fire, Michael Jackson, Journey, and the Greg Kihn Band. I will be in the studio so that you can request a song from the fifties through the eighties. Last weekend we heard from more new friends. The circle around Richland Center is getting bigger all of the time. Calls from Mount Hope, Oakdale (near Tomah), North Freedom, and Viroqua were among the places we heard from. Don't be afraid to give us a call during Those Were The Days Saturday night (608) 647-4155.

This Saturday night WRCO FM 100.9 will be the place to be as we travel back to 1971. We will play for you some of the hot hits from that Spring during our six hour Those Were The Days show. During that year I was trying to do as many chores on the farm as possible. Barn scraping was my best skill. I would save up sixty-nine cents and take the money to Saffell's music store and the Dime Store to buy new forty-five records from Three Dog Night, Partridge Family, Cat Stevens, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the Jackson Five. I will play some of those songs on the radio this Saturday night! There was controversy on the school bus in 1971. Half of the students thought the title of the new song by Lobo was....'Me & You And A Dog Named Blue' , the rest of us could not convince them that the dogs name was Boo. There are probably some adults walking around today that still think the mutt was called Blue. That reminds me of the 1965 McCoys' hit 'Hang On Sloopy'. If I had a dime for everytime a caller has asked for 'Hang On Snoopy', I would have bought more forty-five records by now!

I hope you will join the party and dedicate a song this Saturday night during the best of the fifties through the eighties Those Were The Days radio show on WRCO FM 100.9. I will be asking one trivia question per hour and perhaps you can win and amaze your friends.